According to a recent poll, many college and universities have never actually tested their crisis management plans. The poll, whose results were published by Campus Technology.com, contains some figures that are bound to cause concern for students, teachers and their families:
According to the results, 54 percent of institutions have tested their crisis response plan in the last year; 23 percent have never tested their plans. The largest obstacles to executing tests, according to the research, were timing (67 percent), participation (43 percent), budget (40 percent), and securing campus-wide buy-in (36 percent).
The survey also found that 51 percent of schools have had a crisis on their campus in the last two years; and a third of respondents have low or no confidence in their institution’s ability to execute the plan in the event of an emergency. Only a fifth of respondents said their campuses had annual meetings to brief the relevant people on the crisis response plan.
Crisis testing and simulation are essential tools for both preparing your crisis response teams and finding and plugging the flaws in your plans. With so many factors at play on and around a major school campus, not taking these steps is a major gamble that could have catastrophic results.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/